Electric-circuit closer and breaker



No. 748,638. PATENTED JAN. 5 1904. T. H. MoQUOWN. ELECTRIC CIRCUIT CLOSER AND BREAKER.

Tlbomas M QuLQ H/ APPLIUATION FILED JAN. 5,1903.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented January 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS H. MCQUOWN, OF BIGGSVILLE, ILLINOIS.

$IEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 748,638, dated January 5, 1904.

Original application filed September 26I 1902, Serial No. 124,910. Divided and this application filed January 5, 1903. Serial No. 137,790. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS H. MoQUowN,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Biggsville, in the county of Henderson and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Circuit Closers and Breakers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric circuit closers and breakers; and its object is to provide an electric-circuit closer and breaker simple and economical in construction and adapted to close and in a very short time thereafter break the circuit, and to regulate as desired, and to very uniform and, if desired, very short periods, the length of time the circuit remains closed without changing the rate of the motion of the machinery to which my circuit closer and breaker may be applied.

My object is attained by and my invention consists in a mechanism comprising a movable part, preferably clock controlled and operated, and two other movable parts moved one in advance of the other (the interval being regulatable) by the uniform motion of said first movable part to connect the electric contact-points only in the interval between the movement of said last two movable parts.

My invention consists also in the novel mechanisms and combinations of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims, which mechanisms and combinations form a practical embodiment of my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows the dial, 850., of a clock with my electric-circuit closer and breaker as operated by the seconds-hand shaft. Fig. 2 is a view of my electric-circuit closer and breaker, showing the electric circuit broken. Fig. 3 is a similar view, but showing the electric circuit closed; and Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the parts adjusted to cause a longer period of the closing of the circuit than is exhibited by the adjustment shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Acam-wheel 1, turning in the direction indicated by the arrow, may be rotated by a clock of any suitable construction and may be carried on the seconds-hand shaft, as in the construction shown in Fig. 1, revolving once in a minute. This cam-wheel has one or more projections 12, similar to the teeth of a ratchet-Wheel. These are four in number in the construction shown in the drawings and are spaced to correspond to intervals of fifteen seconds apart. Two leverarms 2 and 3, pivoted, respectively, at 6 and 7, close the electric circuit by connecting the contact-points 8 and 9 when in the revolution of the cam-wheel the end 5 of the lever-arm 3 drops from one of said projections and before the end 4 of the other lever-arm 2 (which is slightly longer than the lever-arm 3) has fallen from said projection. As soon as the lever-arm 2 has dropped from said projection the contact-points are again separated, so that the circuit is closed only during the interval between the falling of the lever-arm 3 and the falling of the lever-arm 2 from the same projection, which occurs in the construction shown in the drawings once every fifteen seconds, the circuit being broken at all other times. To make the motion of these lever-arms positive and quicker or to adapt them to other positions, they may be springpressed instead of falling by the force of gravity.

In order to regulate the length of the contact of the points 8 and 9, one of the leverarms 3 is pivoted on a lever 10, fulcrumed, as at 6, on the frame of the mechanism, so that by slightly turning the lever 10 (adjustable by the set-screw 11) the length of time between the falling of the lever-arm 3 and the lever-arm 2 from one of the projections of the cam-wheel 1 may be increased or diminished.

The cam-wheel 1 being rotated in the direction of the arrow, the operation of my circuit closer and breaker is manifest.

This is a divisional application divided from my application, Serial No. 124,910, filed in the United States Patent Office September 26, 1902.

It is obvious that my invention may be embodied in modified and varying mechanisms, and I do not limit myself to the hereinbeforedescribed mechanism as the only embodiment thereof.

I claim 1. In an electric-circuit closer and breaker,

a frame, electric contact-points, a clock-controlled movable part, two other movable parts successively moved by the motion of the first movable part and adapted to connect the electric contactpoints only in the interval between the movement of said last two movable parts, and a lever for regulating said interval fulcrumed on the frame, to which lever is attached one of said last two movable parts.

2. In an electric-circuit closer and breaker, a frame, electric contact-points, a clock-controlled rotatable Wheel with a projection thereon, two lever-arms adapted to fall one in advance of the other from said projection in the THOMAS H. MOQUOWN.

l/Vitnesses:

ED KELLY, W. D. HENDERSON. 

